Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Quixotic Challenge #7

I did it, I finally broke out of the red/pink/black/white mode I was in there for a while. I made this card for a different challenge that I have never tried before. All you had to do was use lace, weeeelllllllll, do I have some lace! The papers are just basic cardstock except for the red scroll under the heart. That was in a "Once Upon A Time" pad I had gotten for my daugter's scrapbook. The antiqued words on the background paper were embossed with my Cuttlebug using the script plate and then shaded with distress ink. The little crocheted flower I made with a little coaching from my daughter as well as the charms. The heart was cut with the Cuttlebug too. I'm really liking the "vintage" style these days. The lock and key charm that is attached to the bow is hard to see so this is a close up shot. I made these out of shrink film. I used my Spellbinders shapeabilities to cut the shrink film and then colored them with permanent markers and put them in the oven for 3 minutes. I think they are adorable!! I just love little mini trinkets, lol! I enjoyed making this card and I think I will duplicate it a few more times and use it to send out to family & friends. Hope you liked it as well and thanks for stopping by. Hugs!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

MoJo Monday #119

Had a hard time getting the mojo started this week. Got a bit of inspiration from Ms. Plum. I seem to be stuck in the red/black/white/pink scenario lately. Anyway, no stamping on this card, just cut the hearts with the cuttlebug and knotted a piece of sheer black ribbon. Not too bad for an evenings work, don't ya think? Hope everyone has a wonderful week and a HAPPY Happy New Year's! Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

MoJo Monday #118

Here's my MoJo Monday #118 card for last Monday. Sadly, Christmas is over so it's time to move on. Will have to look forward to the next holiday, which of course is Valentine's Day. I did get some new heart shaped toys with some of my Christmas money so thought I would try them out. The heart shaped border punch is Martha Stewart. The heart shape itself was cut from my cricut and the pink background was embossed with my new floral fantasy embossing folder on the bug. The sentiment is from CTMH.
Hope you enjoy my first Valentine's Day card, thanks for looking. Hope you have a great 2010!!!

Tag Boxes

Here are the tag boxes that I made for my sisters for Christmas. I couldn't put them up on my blog until now as I know at least one of them watches my blog. They are both all hand made from cardboard that I accumulated from boxes of checks from work.
I made the boxes and then I covered each one in Christmas wrapping paper. The poinsettias were cut from the cricut and the sheet music I got online as well as the lamp post. Someone had drawn out a lamp post on graph paper and but it on their blog. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the blog but a huge Thank You goes out to them. That was the coolest thing. I printed it, cut it out, traced it out on black paper and then added some glitter glue to highlight it. You probably can't see it very well but it turned out so cute. The hinges are made from chipboard (some stuff that comes from the check boxes at work) and I just rubbed them with some distress ink and made them look like leather. The original idea I got off of Linda Duke's blog, so thank you Linda for the inspiration. I tried to find the same image she had on hers but was unsuccessful so I kinda went out on my own and I was thrilled with the results. My two sisters were as well, they really liked their boxes. Thanks for stopping by for a look.
Oh, I forgot to tell you the bells on the sides of this one I used a cookie cutter to make the shape and then I just covered it with aluminum foil and some red stickles as the outline. Worked out just perfect!! I have more shots of these so if you want to see more, leave me a comment and I'll
put up some more.

Friday, December 25, 2009

A Christmas Card

This is not a homemade card but one that my daughter gave me for Christmas. It was in my stocking. Since she was little we have been filling our stockings and then when she got a bit older, I started putting a nice Christmas card in every year. It has become a tradition now. And since now I make all my cards, I have really enjoyed making cards for her stocking. A couple of times she has made her card to me but this year she chose to buy one because she said she found one with some words that meant so much to her. It brought tears to my eyes when I read it. It is probably a little hard to read so I will write the verse out so you can see the words.
"Home Is Where My Mother Is"
Home is much more than a word---
it's a feeling of warmth
that neither time nor distance can diminish...
It's knowing that love is never more than a memory away.
Merry Christmas to my mom---
who has given me
the gifts
of family and friendship
and has brightened
my heart
with lifetime memories
of laughter, love,
and a place to call home.
Almost brings tears to my eyes again. We have had a tough year, her and I, and it really made me feel like she really does appreciate everything that I have done for her. Being a single mother is hard and I have done everything in my power and then some to make sure she has had the things that she needs. I have tried to teach her life's lessons and unfortunately, as I'm sure most people can tell you, tough love is hard to dish out. Now that she is getting a bit older, she will be 22 in April, I do believe that she is finally starting to see that everything I do, I have done with her best interests in mind. I Love You Miranda! Thank you so much for the beautiful card, it really made my Christmas! Hugs!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas 2009

Well, it has finally arrived! After planning and primping and decorating and baking and . . . . the big day is finally here. I just love Christmas time, especially getting up early in the morning and flipping on the Christmas tree lights and just sitting there watching all it's magic over a nice cup of coffee. I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and may the joys of the season last you through the New Year! God's Blessings to you all!!

Monday, December 14, 2009

MoJo Monday #117

This is my card for the MoJo Monday #117. I had ordered a new paper pack from CTMH, actually it is an "old" paper pack that they had in their clearance sale this past week or so and I liked it. It's called "Heirloom". The stamp is from Christmas Scripts (C1209), also from the clearance sale. The ribbon is from my stash. It was quick and simple but almost elegant looking. Hope you like how it turned out and thanks for looking!!

Monday, December 7, 2009

MoJo Monday #116

Must have been in somewhat of a romantic mood this evening. This is the card that came out of it. Have been really getting in to the gold lately. Anyway, hope you like it and thanks for stopping by. Happy Monday!!!

Christmas 2009 Tea Party

Our annual Christmas Tea Party was nothing short of spectacular. There were eight in attendance and we had a great time. The table was all dressed out in traditional christmas colors, red, green, gold and white. I had made a poinsettia table runner and some napkins that when folded looked like Christmas trees. A friend's mother had made some for me years ago but I only had four so I made four more. They are just circles of two different kinds of christmas fabrics zigzagged together around the edges. The way you fold them then look like a christmas tree.
I was busy hosting so Beth took most of the pictures. She is the greatest at it so I just let her do her thing. Our menu consisted of proscuitto quiche, cheesy pasta bites and chicken salad sandwiches on crossants. The second tier was gingerbread scone, in the shape of gingerbread men, they were so cute. And the third tier was butter cookies in the shapes of christmas trees (green, of course), poinsettias (red, of course) with a green leaf (made out of a green spiced gum drop), pistachio orange rounds, rosemary pear thumbprints and some good old fashioned fudge. It was alot of work, I started cooking Friday night at around 5 p.m. and didn't shut the oven off until 9:45 p.m. and I was back up at 5 a.m. at it again. (I thought my back would give out before I got done but I managed to take five and sit down after each item). I have to tell you the funniest story too. Somewhere in between cooking the second to last dish and everyone showing up, I decided to take a jet bath. Needed to shower and get ready anyway so I thought I'll just sit in the jet tub for a few minutes (couldn't hurt the ol' back anyway). I also needed to finish cleaning my bathroom, which was mainly just the floor. For some unknown reason, I hate cleaning that floor. It's not like it's so big, it's a bathroom for goodness sake, but I hate it just the same. So I thought I'll just forgo the floor this time, no one will notice. Ha, Ha, the joke was on me. I filled the tub full of water. You have to wait to turn the jets on until the water gets past the jets or, guess what, you have water everywhere. Well, as usual, I was in a hurry and I turned the jets on too soon and OMG!!! Water was spueing (is that a word) every. And I mean everywhere, I was soaked from head to toe because of course I was trying to shield it from the floor with my hands, LOL. Needless to say, I now had to do the floor. I'm like, OK, OK, I'LL DO THE FLOOR!!! It was so funny, I am still laughing as I am writing this. Ok, back to the party. We had three different kinds of tea, vanilla almond, "to life" which was a flowery flavor, and happy tummy tea, my favorite. It's licorice flavored and decaf so I could drink as much as I wanted. I just love that stuff. It has been tradition since I started with these gals and the tea parties that at each one, we get a little trinket of some kind from the hostess. Well, this year I was given some tea pots from a lady that lived below me here in the complex that was moving. She literally had display cases full of them and said she didn't want to move them all. She asked me if I wanted some of them and I told her I would take all that she didn't want. She gave me like 10 or 12 different little tea pots. There were so cute. I washed them all up and selected the ones that all looked pretty much the same, i.e. they were all shaped like little buildings, ya know, like the little snow villages you see. I made gift bags them out of white crafts bags, decorated them with the same stamp set that I did the invitations in and added some christmas tissue paper on top. They were really cute and everyone liked them. YEAH!! We even did a gift exchange with a $10 limit. It was so fun. All in all, IT WAS AN AWESOME TEA PARTY! My daughter's boyfriend even said so. They came walking in just as we were opening gifts. That's what he told me later, that was an awesome tea party, lol. Sounded kinda funny coming from a guy, but it brought a big smile to my face and warm fuzzy feeling to my tummy. Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all, all the joys of the season! Merry Christmas Everyone!